1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to battery monitoring and/or control systems and, more particularly, to battery monitoring and/or control systems implemented over computer networks (especially wide area computer networks).
2. Description of the Related Art
US patent application 2010/0114512 (“Cotton”) discloses a system and method for collecting and storing data associated with of battery characteristics. A user of the Cotton system receives data including alerts, failure predictions, aging items and “comprehensive battery management information.” The battery management information of the Cotton system is disclosed to include the following information: (i) replacement information relating to the last time a particular battery unit was replaced; (ii) the last time that the user logged into the system and received data for the battery; (iii) the internet protocol (IP) address and domain from which the user checked the battery; and (iv) characteristics associated with the battery storage facility. The disclosed characteristics of the battery storage facility, included in the battery management information of the Cotton system, includes the ambient temperature of the battery storage facility.
Cotton further discloses that the data associated with battery sites may be transmitted over an encrypted or an unencrypted data link over. For example, the battery and battery site information of Cotton may be communicated over the Internet.
Cotton discloses that battery-related reports are generated. These battery-related reports are disclosed to include: (i) battery life prediction information; and (ii) alarm data. Cotton discloses that these reports may be generated based on a an end-user's query workstation. Cotton further discloses that battery-related reports may be pushed to an end-user based on a predetermined condition, such as a power outage, a power surge, or a change in temperature of the battery storage site.
Description Of the Related Art Section Disclaimer: To the extent that specific publications are discussed above in this Description of the Related Art Section, these discussions should not be taken as an admission that the discussed publications (for example, published patents) are prior art for patent law purposes. For example, some or all of the discussed publications may not be sufficiently early in time, may not reflect subject matter developed early enough in time and/or may not be sufficiently enabling so as to amount to prior art for patent law purposes. To the extent that specific publications are discussed above in this Description of the Related Art Section, they are all hereby incorporated by reference into this document in their respective entirety(ies).